” Eye health and good vision is an important issue for everyone, but particularly for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
It accounts for a significant proportion of the health gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. I’m pleased to report that progress is being made.
The National Eye Health Survey, released on World Sight Day this year, also tells an important story. Rates of blindness amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have improved from 6 times to 3 times as much compared with non-Indigenous people.
And the prevalence of active trachoma among children in at-risk communities fell from 21% in 2008 to 4.6% in 2015.
The Roadmap to Close the Gap for Vision has played a part in prompting actions that contribute to this improvement. The Roadmap outlines a whole of system approach to improving Indigenous eye health, and achieving equity between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal eye health outcomes.
There is however still work to be done on Closing the Gap for Vision. For example, half of Indigenous participants with diabetes had not had the recommended retinal examination.
NACCHO has been involved with the Roadmap from its inception, and had a long relationship with Indigenous Eye Health at the University of Melbourne, and with RANZCO. We’re pleased with the great work and good progress being made.”
Ms Patricia Turner, Chief Executive Officer, of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) launching The 2016 Annual Update on the Implementation of the Roadmap to Close the Gap for Vision
Pat Turner pictured above with Mark Daniell President, RANZCO, and Prof Hugh Taylor at the launch.
The gap in blindness in Indigenous communities has been halved since 2008 through collective implementation of the sector-supported Roadmap to Close the Gap for Vision, according to a report launched yesterday
Speaking at the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO) Annual Scientific Congress in Melbourne, Laureate Professor Hugh R Taylor AC, Harold Mitchell Chair of Indigenous Eye Health at the University of Melbourne said that progress is being made on every single recommendation in the Roadmap to Close the Gap for Vision, which was developed by Indigenous Eye Health at the University of Melbourne.
Download copy of the Report 2016-annualupdate
Eleven of the 42 recommendations have now been fully implemented, with almost two thirds of all activities completed.
“In terms of regional implementation of the Roadmap, there has been positive engagement. We are working with 18 regions across the country covering almost half of the nation’s Indigenous population,” Professor Taylor said.
“We can report that at the beginning of this project, we found rates of blindness and impaired vision were up to six times higher than for non-Indigenous populations. This has now been halved,” he said.
“While the rate stands at three times more than the national average, this is still a very encouraging improvement. With on-going national support, we are determined to reach eye health parity with the rest of the Australian population.”
In his role as Chair of Indigenous Eye Health, Professor Taylor is also working with Indigenous leaders, partners and members of the community in a mission to eliminate trachoma in Australia.
“We are the only developed nation with endemic disease and only in Indigenous communities. Many Indigenous communities are now trachoma free and we can turn our attention to other main causes of blindness and poor vision in Indigenous communities: cataract, refractive error and diabetes,” Professor Taylor said.
Since 2008 rates of trachoma in children in outback communities has fallen from 21% to 4.6%. “We are really seeing some striking progress but we still need to focus on the hot spots.”
“The 2016 Roadmap update shows we are making great progress and are on track to close the gap for Indigenous vision completely in the next four years.”
